John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 554

After some more study, I believe I can clarify the contribution of Rev. Slaughter to Green's " Genealogical and Historical Notes on Culpeper County, Virginia ".  Slaughter published a book of about one hundred pages in the 1880 time frame.  By the 1900's, Green conceived the idea of extending Slaughter's remarks, to make them current, and of adding some other information.  The final book is in two parts, the first being largely Slaughter's original work, the second being collections of information that Green added.

Apparently, the modifications to Slaughter's work were in two areas.  The history of St. Mark's Parish, the subject of Slaughter's original work was brought up to the present time starting with information from 1878.  This must have been about the time that Slaughter published his book.  Green advertised for corrections to the genealogies.  The number and extent of these are impossible to tell without a detailed comparison to the original genealogies in the Slaughter work.

From 1880 to 1900, the most information to that time on Germanna was Slaughter's work.  He quoted from John Fontaine's Diary, from Rev. Hugh Jones, from Col. Byrd, and from Spotswood's letters.  The Fontaine, Jones, and Byrd writings were no more or less than we have today.  Today, though, we have many more of Spotswood's writings, especially some of the more significant ones.

Missing from Slaughter is a complete lack of understanding of the motivations of Graffenried, of George Ritter and Company, and of Michel.  Slaughter does not mention a single quotation from Graffenried, but depends entirely upon what Spotswood says about Graffenried.

Probably as a result of his researches in England about 1850, Slaughter was aware of the petition made by the Germans to the Society for Propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts .  This petition was made in 1719 and highlights from it include the following.

There were thirty-two Protestant German families, of whom, twelve families, numbering about fifty people, arrived in April of 1714.

These families were settled near to the Rappahannock River.

In 1717, twenty Protestant Germans families, consisting of about fourscore people, came and settled down near their countrymen.

Many more Germans and Swiss are expected to come.

A minister is needed to help Rev. Häger, who came with the first group and is growing old.

Mr. J. C. Zollicoffer, a Swiss, has been empowered to seek subscriptions and a minister in Germany to help.  But more help is needed and the Society is implored to help.

For the last two decades of the nineteenth century, Slaughter's work was the best account, in one place, of the Piedmont Germans who lived at or near to Germanna even though his account was very incomplete.